Coachella’s lack of rock music angers fans of genre

It is no secret that Coachella is booking fewer rock bands than they used to. However, after a lot of questionable math and google searching, Coachella’s current lineup shows significantly less rock and metal bands than in their debut in 1999.

Judging from Coachella’s lineup in 1999, roughly 30 to 35 percent of the acts would have been widely regarded as rock. While the genre didn’t come close to the number of house or electronic acts, rock was still a big part of the festival’s draw.

However, only about seven to 13 percent of this year’s lineup would be argued as “rock.” Even with that being said, many of the artists that we counted as “rock” could also easily fall under indie, pop-rock, or some other subgenre.

Of course, Coachella’s lineup has more than doubled in size since 1999, so rock’s representation may seem even more sparse than it actually is at first glance. However, the genres that seem to be dominating the festival this year are clearly rap, pop and hip-hop.

Upon a closer look at the lineup, we found that most of the rock bands on today’s lineup aren’t even coming close to headlining. Aside from Weezer and the 1975, most of the other rock bands are the little guys in the tiny font, such as Turnstile.

With that being said, many rock and metal fans don’t seem too happy with Coachella’s direction.

Coachella never had its finger on the pulse; always, finger on the purse. In 1999, they were booking based on MTV, Spin and college radio. In 2019, they are booking based on Youtube and Spotify.
Who cares? Support local rock clubs like @casbahsandiego, @alexsbar or @CafeNela.

Given Coachella is entirely about posting pics on IG, and hasn’t been about the music in years, this just continues in the exact same vein. Weezer could perform a set entirely of Toto covers and no one in the audience would even notice.

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What the hell is YUNGBLUD, anyway? Is it a sassy stage name for British-born Dominic Harrison to wave his freak flag and pink socks under? Is it a musical vehicle that has absolutely no allegiance to genre as much as it does to getting the message across? Or is it a school of thought where the world’s youth can stand united to hasten the destruction of all the social, political and cultural barriers designed to separate them?